PRIME TIME
… is fine time
Tuesday Apr. 1, 2014
TV vernacular, prime time – when most people are watching, advertisers reach so many on behalf of their products with their most important message. Message quality may be poor, but viewer volume is high.
But what if it could mean something more?
What if prime time was best of times, finest of times, most delicious of times – not some slice of perfectly roasted prime rib, but perfectly prepared human experience.
Quick, find it, cast it in plaster-of-paris – then hang it on some wall for all to see. Or, just put it on TV. Prime time is display. Prime time is show it all time, show everyone time – which brings me to this story, a documentary film last weekend – about Gordon Pinsent.
He was discussing his book The Rowdyman (which was made into the movie of the same name). Some of his comments were profound, revealing and rooted in reality – kind that stop you, put you in your chair, pause you to say ..hmmm. Well, it did for me.
He suggested choosing that place in our life where something pivotal happened – to start writing our story from that point, as if our life had gone off in that other direction . . .
Too often I think, we dream life – parts of it anyway – as if it went off in that other direction.
So easy to play ‘what if?’ games.
What if this, or what if that?
What if I did what I wanted to do?
What if I didn’t do what I don’t want to do?
What if I changed direction back then, or now, or tomorrow?
What if the next action, choice, decision or direction – call it what you wish, was going to be the determining factor in terms of ‘meaning in your life’ – so, ask yourself, are you up for it, are you ready for it, will you embrace it, own it, choose it, protect it like there is nothing more precious on earth?
It might not be, but what if it is?
Are you ready for your prime time?
Are you perfectly prepared?
Does it matter?
Being ready for all things is like acting without a script, it is art (not paint by numbers), it is walking the tightrope without a net – not because we won’t fall, but because we will.
We will fall, fail and go kerplop whichever way we turn – but turning in the direction of the unexpected is where the creative action lives.
We can do safe, we can do easy, we can conventional – but that wouldn’t be living in our prime, would it?
I’ve not many rowdy days in my past and don’t consider my future ambitions as either plans (as though I have it all figured out) or rowdy (because I’m not feeling physically tough) – but physical is only one part of our game …
Our lives are lived in our minds – not someone else’s, but in our own.
If I can dream it, I can imagine it. If I can imagine it, I can do it.
If I can do it, why am I sitting still?
Ready, fire, aim …
Today starts April, lets be wild and crazy, lets be bold and brassy, lets be adventurous without being reckless. Nothing’s foolish about that.
Mark Kolke
197.968
column written/ published from Calgary
morning walk: -10C/14F, snow has stopped, partly cloudy, the temperature needle moves today, Gusta enjoying the traction (me too) on bare sidewalks once again – anticipating the ice-slurry of the next couple of weeks of freeze-thaw …
Reader feedback / comments always welcome:
Beautifully written. Life is so full of opportunities to let our emotions become like a wild mustang we climb upon with no saddle or bridle. We just hang onto the mane with every ounce of energy we can muster as if our life depends upon it. Emotions, at times, seem to overtake our minds, our hearts, our very beings. But then the reins appear and we take hold and guide ourselves back to the land of equilibrium. Later as we reflect on the ride we realize it is all contributing to who we have become and it is a good thing. GW, Bon Wier, Tx.
